Aerostar makes $22.5M electricity payment to PREPA

Aerostar Airport Holdings, the operator of the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, settled a dispute it had with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority over past due electricity charges and made a $22.5 million payment, utility officials announced.

The private company was contending charges for the period from February 2013 to December 2015, and entered into a review process with PREPA. Following a review, Aerostar paid for the consumption registered exclusively in the areas of the airport it is leasing, said Aerostar CEO Agustín Arellano.

“After the process in conjunction with PREPA to break down and clarify the complexity of providing electricity to the airport, we reached an agreement that allowed us to make the payment,” Arellano said.

As part of the review, which Arellano said was done in “record time,” the designated work teams identified the issues, installed meters and validated the consumption in all of the areas associated with the LMM airport.

“We’re satisfied following the completion of this process and the payment of the debt agreed with Aerostar,” PREPA Executive Director Javier Quintana-Méndez said. “This action is part of the initiatives we have set forth at PREPA as part of the restructuring process to improve our finances.”

PREPA will continue to work on of energy recovery with the various commercial, residential, industrial and government agencies that owe for electricity used, said Quintana-Méndez.